I Ain't Got The Legs To Run That Race

It's really hard to deal with when someone that you know understands nothing of what they speak of tries to pass judgment upon you. Of all the things that turn me off of religion or its practitioners and/or adherents to the ideals behind it, that would have to be my number one pet peeve.

I realize that we are all subject to our prejudices in one way or another. That's a given and I'm not immune to the practice myself. I think a certain way and I (like most of us) tend to imprint my environment with the stamp of my perceptions. But I would like to hope that I've managed to perfect a blend of mental gymnastics with a certain amount of empathy that would allow me to step into another's shoes and see (if only temporarily) through their eyes. I hope I've learned enough about life in my 40 years to be able to extrapolate another's thought patterns when I am given a set of variables. And I most certainly hope that I am able to do this by the laying aside of MY thought patterns, if only for that small period it takes to perform my calculations. A form of emotional algebra, if you will?

It might be a supreme irony, then, for me to complain about people who can't do this. After all, I should be able to step into their shoes, right? Right. And I can, and I do. Understand, that is. What frustrates me are the people who are unwilling to even make the attempt and deem it needless to do so on grounds of moral superiority. Those who are unwilling to make the effort and instead believe -- without testing, without asking -- that what they think is right and what others think is wrong just because THEY think it. Walking through the world with blinders on makes me crazy.

Those sorts of people tend to think logical thought is a one-way path and once they begin to walk it there is no need to deviate from that path. I wonder what fears lie underneath such a need. Is it easier to move through life if you have boundaries that you create and thoughts to think and beliefs to believe and no questions asked? Safety and security and the need to feel correct about things becomes paramount. The question why? should have a solution; as a matter of fact, every question should have a solution. Asking a question and knowing it cannot be answered is not only useless but irrelevant. Don't have an answer? Ask an authority, get an answer, and move on.

To these people, intelligence becomes a badge they wear and can show proudly to others....but most importantly to themselves. Spouting empirical knowledge becomes a measure of their worth. What they "know" assures them that there is a logical order to people and things and that they have a place within it.

I know it is too much for me to expect that a person who thinks like this will be able to understand a vastly different point of view, or even want to. When the correct answer has been found, the work it takes to suspend their own set of beliefs and superimpose another's -- and then pretend that the other's view is now "correct" -- is too much if not impossible.

Given all this, it is left up to me to do the work. I am the one with the ability, after all. Understand it I might, but I will remain eternally frustrated, oftentimes exasperated, and randomly insulted.


((Song: "Too Sick To Pray" by A3. Lyrics here:
http://www.lyricsandsongs.com/song/544988.html ))